A SHAMELESS grandmother swindled more than £36,000 in benefit handouts as she enjoyed a luxurious life of travelling the world with her lesbian partner.

Cheryl Brooks, 45, boasted of her exotic travels on social media where she posted pictures of her riding elephants in India, feeding koala bears in Australia and visiting Elvis Presley's Graceland home in Tennessee, US.

But while Brooks was savouring her jet set life, the brazen blonde was also raking in thousands of pounds worth of taxpayers' cash.

The grandmother had falsely claimed housing benefits, council tax benefits and employment support allowance over three years by declaring she was living alone and single.

In reality, Brooks began a relationship with Margaret Brierley, 42, a year after she began claiming from the state.

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The couple went on to enter into a civil partnership, complete with a lavish party attended by their friends and family.

When Brierley moved into Brooks' home in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester - and continued working as a taxi driver - Brooks continued delcaring that she was living alone in three separate claims forms.

She was then able to rake in a whopping £36,166.81 over the course of three years in overpaid benefits - all while documenting her holiday snaps with Ms Brierley on Facebook for everyone to see.

In the shocking holiday album, the pair can be seen enjoying trips to Palma Nova in Spain, two excursions to Australia, America, India and Thailand.

But her boasting proved to be Brooks' undoing, as the full extent of her deception was rumbled in August 2013 when anti-fraud investigators became suspicious after coming across her Facebook page.

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Ms Brooks and her partner also had shared bank accounts

Brooks, who now lives on disability support allowance after quitting her job as a taxi driver in 2009, escaped jail after admitting a failure to declare a change in her circumstances.

She was handed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after appearing Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester.

Brooks was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,308, which will be taken from her Disability Living Allowance and Working Tax Credit.

The Facebook account demonstrated they had been on a number of holidays together during the claim period

Dean Hulse

Prosecuting on behalf of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, Dean Hulse said: "The Facebook account demonstrated they had been on a number of holidays together during the claim period. Palma Nova in 2011, India in 2012, Australia and the USA in 2013.

"This represented a lavish lifestyle beyond the means of a person who was single with dependent children whose sole income was state benefits."

Brooks made her initial claim for benefits in September 2009 but it became fraudulent in September 2010 when she moved Brierley into her home, the court heard.

On three separate occasions - in October 2010, November 2010 and September 2011 - Brooks made claims for benefits while declaring herself as a single woman with no income, when in fact she was living with her partner who was working full-time.

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Ms Brooks on one of her many holidays

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and local authority were first made aware of her decpetion by an anti-fraud push in August 2013, that found a taxi license was registered to Brooks' address.

This led to an investigation to see whether she was actually living with Brierley.

Officers then stumbled across Brooks' Facebook account that showed the pair had entered into a civil partnership in November 2012, it was said.

It was also discovered that Brooks had five bank accounts, including two in the joint names of herself and Brierley, despite telling the DWP that she only had one.

Mr Hulse said: "This reflects the calculation that has gone into this by the defendant to conceal evidence she was living with another person.

He added: "It is the taxpayer who suffers. Particularly in times when public funds are scarce it could be considered more unacceptable to be committing this type of offence."

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The couple on holiday together in Australia in 2013

In mitigation for Brooks, who had no previous convictions, Mark Harper said she had always accepted her wrongdoing.

He said: "It was not fraudulent from the outset but in 2010 she became involved in a relationship with Mrs Brierley who she already knew and they maintained a common household and that was not declared."

But sentencing, Judge Stuart Driver QC said: "Over three years you dishonestly obtained £36,000 of public money. I don't believe everything you said to probation. I think you had a good lifestyle out of that and funded luxurious foreign travel.

"You had a number of bank accounts and although it wasn't fraud from the start, it quickly became so. You have health problems and I give you full credit for your plea."